Mariners Rumors: Trading with Diamondbacks for Merrill Kelly

If the Mariners end up doing anything at all during the deadline, chances are they are going to go after a starting pitcher. It doesn’t sound like they are going to harm their long-term plans with their current prospect crop, instead choosing to do something in the short term. Dipoto actually talked about it, according to Corey Brock.

"“But we’re not going to push the opportunity because we believe this is a window that is open and we want to make sure it stays open. We don’t want to shortchange our long term.”"

It’s nice hearing something like that coming out of the front office, and it’s truly what I hope happens for the Mariners. They don’t need to go after anyone major, only to risk not only losing the prospect/s that they sent out but the player that they traded for if they end up leaving.

Previously, I talked about how the Mariners could look at one of Kelly’s teammates, Zac Gallen. He’s likely going to fall into the same class as Jose Berrios though, and be difficult to trade for.

Kelly is under control through 2024, which is the completion of his age 35 season. Trading for someone like him could be a way to get a cheap-ish option at starting pitcher, a solid vet, and also someone who wouldn’t break the bank.

Arizona could be a great team to give a call to. They went through one of the worst stretches of baseball in recent history, going from 17-19 to 22-60 (that’s 5-41, woof). We all know that they will likely be looking to get more youth into their system, so calling them up about the 32-year-old Kelly would be a great idea by Dipoto. Here’s what some trades could look like.